Envelop-moistener.



UNITED STATES Patented March 14, 1905.

PATENT CEEicE.

ENVELOP-NIOISTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 784,616, dated March 14, 1905.

Application tiled November 2, 1904. Serial No. 231,092.

2"() all vll/tom t 77u03/ concern:

Be it known that I, JENNIE CROWTHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Shelton, county of Fairlield, State .of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Envelop- Moistener, of which the following' is a speciiication.

My invention relates to the class of portable moistening devices that are classed as desk furniture and are used in private houses, factories, stores, and oiiices generally wherever larg'e quantities of envelops are required to be sealed to moisten the flaps of envelops, and thus do way with the disagreeable necessity for touching' them with the tongue. It is of course required in an article of this character that it shall be simple and inexpensive to produce, neat and attractive in appearance, always ready for use,and capable of being moved about without danger of spattering water upon other articles on a desk. In order to accomplish these results and provide an article of this character which will fully meet the requirements of the trade and of g'eneral use, and which may beproduced so inexpensively as to place it within the reach of all, I have devised the novel envelop-moistener which I will now describe, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming' a part of this speciiication, and using' reference characters to indicate the several parts.

Figure l is a plan View of my novel envelop-moistener in lposition for use; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section on the line 2 2 in Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 in Figs. l and 2.

2O denotes the reservoir, which may be made of any suitable material, as porcelain, is open at the top, and is generally oblong in configuration-for example, of substantially the shape shownin the drawings. The tops of the sides are preferably convex curves, highest at the center.- Upon the opposite inner faces of the sides are bosses 21, each provided with a recess 22 to receive the journal-pin 23 of a roller 24, the lower edge of which is in use immersed in water in the reservoir. which I have indicated by 25. The journal-pin is preferably made of brass, and the roller may be made of wood, vulcanized ber, or any suitable material, the periphery of the roller being covered with a suitable absorbent material, as felt, (indicated by 26.)

27 denotes the cover, which is shown as provided on the under side with a depending' iiange 28, which just lits within the reservoir, as clearly shown. At the center of the cover is an opening' 37, through which the roller projects when the cover is in place on the reser' voir. This opening is covered by a raised guard 29, the back of which, as at 30, serves as a gage for the flaps of envelops in use. In shape the guard is made substantially as indicated in Fig'. 2, the center being curved upward, as at 3l, leaving' a curved passage 32 between the roller and the guard for the flaps of envelops vto pass through, and the ends being curved upward, as at 33, to permit the convenient insertion of the flaps of envelops into the passage. The shape of the guard, it will be noted, is such as to hold the iiap of an envelop in contact with the roller while being' passed through the passage.

At one or both ends of opening' 37 I provide a slig'htly-raised scraping-wall 34, which removes superiiuous moisture should there be any from the moistened flaps of envelops. As the iiaps of envelops are usually passed in from left to right, I have shown a scraping'- wall on the right-hand side only in the drawings; but scraping-walls may be provided on both sides of the opening, if preferred. As a convenient means of disposing' of the surplus moisture Iprovide converg'ing' grooves 35 in the top of the cover, which extend from the outer face of the scraping-wall and all terminate in a drainage-hole 36, which permits any moisture that may be removed by the scraping-wall from the flaps of envelops to drain into the reservoir.

The operation will be readily understood from the drawings and hardly requires description in detail. It is simply required that the iiaps of envelops to be moistened be opened out and passed rapidly under the guard and over the surface of the roller, which will turn freely with the envelop, thus always presenting a moistened surface to successive envelops. The shape of the guard is such as to permit the flaps to be conveniently inserted and IOO to hold them in Contact withthe surface of the roller while being passed through the passage, the gage preventing the flaps from being' passed too far forward. Should too much moisture be picked up by the flaps, it will be removed by the scraping-wall and will drip back into the reservoir.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. An envelop-moistener comprising a reservoir, a roller journaledin the walls oi' said reservoir, the bearings for the roller being' integral with said walls, a cover having an opening' through which the roller extends, and a guard over the opening between which and the roller the liaps of envelops are passed to be moistened, said guard being integral with the cover.

2. An envelop-moistener comprising' a reservoir, a roller journaled in the walls of said reservoir, the bearings for the roller being integral with said walls, and a cover provided with an opening' through which the roller eX- tends and having an integral depending liange engaging the reservoir and an integral curved guard over the opening.

3. An enVelop-moistener comprising a res? crvoir, having sides curved at the top and on the inner faces of the sides bosses provided with recesses, a roller having a journal-pin adapted to engage the recesses and a cover having' an opening' through which the roller extends and a guard over the opening between which and the roller the iiaps of envelops may be passed.

4. An envelop-moistener comprising' a reservoir, a roller journaled in the walls of said reservoir, and a cover provided with an opening' through which the roller extends and having' an integral guard over the opening which guard is curved to correspond with the curvature of the roller and to hold the fiaps of envelops in Contact therewith and is curved at the ends to permit the convenient insertion of the flaps.

5. An envelop-moistener comprising a reservoir, a roller journaled therein and a cover having' an opening through which the roller extends, a guard covering the opening and a scraping-wall whereby superliuous moisture is removed from the liaps of envelops.

6. An envelop-moistener comprising a reservoir, a roller journaled therein and a cover having' an opening through which the roller extends, a guard covering the opening', and a scraping-wall for the purpose set forth, said cover having also a drainage-opening and converging g'rooves leading from the outer face of the scraping-wall to said opening.

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signatu re in presence of two witnesses.

J EN N 1E CROI'VTHER.

Witnesses:

DAVID A. NICHOLS, EDw. W. KNEEN. 

